Free Republic

[On Thurs]day, the White House released a framework for online consumer privacy with the aim of enacting federal standards. While the report rightly does not make an outright call for heavy regulation, it does set the stage for federal action – whether legislatively or through agencies – that could create burdens on web companies and fundamentally upend the way consumers use the Internet today. Last year, at least six different privacy-related bills were introduced in Congress, all with varying degrees of heavy-handedness. At the same time, the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer privacy proceeding largely stalled, but paved the way for...

In 2010, Democrats gave their website a facelift and whitewash. Check out the screenshot to see what they used to say about their civil rights history compared to now. "Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws, and every law that protects workers. Most recently, Democrats stood together to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act." "On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight. We support vigorous enforcement of existing laws, and remain committed to protecting fundamental civil rights in America." This...

This month CBO has published another report that shows the cost of the “stimulus” package will be more than initially estimated. During consideration of the “Stimulus” bill in 2009 the CBO initially projected an “increase in budget deficits by $787 billion” as a result of the legislation between 2009 and 2019. In August of 2010 the CBO adjusted the anticipated cost from the ‘Stimulus’ to be $814 billion. The last quarterly report increased that estimate to $825 billion. Now the CBO’s report for February 2012 states the actual impact was $831 billion. If this pace is consistent, based on the...

Mitt Romney this week released “version 2.0” of his tax plan. It and those of his GOP primary competitors stands in contrast to the tax plan offered by President Barack Obama in his FY 2013 budget. In this budget, he announced that he is for tripling the tax rate on dividends, raising the tax rate at which the majority of small employer profits face taxation, hiking the capital gains rate, bringing the death tax to nearly half of an estate’s value, and raising taxes to hurt energy consumers. The list of tax hikes in the Obama budget is frankly staggering....

US gay group behind the shutdown of Julio Severo PayPal account wants to defeat Russian law banning homosexual propaganda By Julio Severo The world is cheering a new law in St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia, banning homosexual propaganda. Yet, AllOut is not cheering. It is calling upon gays and government officials in America, Europe and around the world to defeat the Russian law protecting children from gay indoctrination. The American gay group launched an international campaign this week to exert pressure on Russian lawmakers. AllOut says, “Over the past few months over 250,000 people have joined All...

Last month, the House Judiciary Committee passed the Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2011, H.R. 1433. This bill would suspend federal economic development funds for two years to any state or municipality that expropriates private property via eminent domain for a private purpose. H.R. 1433 enjoys the bipartisan support of Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) as well as more than two dozen other co-sponsors. If enacted, this legislation would strike at the heart of the 2005 Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London. This ruling allowed government entities to expropriate private property at...

The Obama Administration today released a business tax reform plan which is hardly worthy of the name. It raises taxes on employers by hundreds of billions of dollars over this decade, makes both larger and smaller companies less competitive than today, and would do nothing to make American companies more competitive around the world. Raises taxes on employers with unemployment over 8 percent. The Administration plan is shameless in admitting that this is not actually business tax reform. Rather, it's a net tax increase on business with some shiny baubles that might remind one of real tax reform. How does...

A state commission in Indiana that was asked to review whether Barack Obama is eligible to be on the state’s 2012 ballot has scheduled a hearing for Friday, and warned the parties to the argument that those who fail to attend may be subject to a default decision. The notice was signed by Trent Deckard and J. Bradley King, co-directors of the Indiana Election Commission, and regards case No. 2012-176, which is a challenge to Obama brought by Karl Swihart. “The hearing is called to determine the merits of the candidate challenge pursuant to Indiana Code 3-8-1-2,” the notice, addressed...

Peter van Uhm: Why I chose a gunPeter van Uhm is the Netherlands’ chief of defense, but that does not mean he is pro-war. At TEDxAmsterdam he explains how his career is one shaped by a love of peace, not a desire for bloodshed -- and why we need armies if we want peace. General Peter van Uhm is the Chief of the Netherlands Defence staff. He has had an outstanding career over four decades in the Dutch military. In the Netherlands, he is know from his personal tragedy. On 18 April 2008, one day after Van Uhm was appointed...

No Child Left Behind is an example of why the 'one size fits all' mentality is an improper way to govern. Placing standardizations as well as allocating specific resources at the federal level is not working. Our education system is decaying. With increasing costs and decreasing scores it is clear that reform is necessary to ensure that the future of our nation have the knowledge and skills to compete in a global economy. Chairman Kline of the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee is sponsoring two pieces of legislation to address this issue. The two bills reform federal education...

After a yearlong fight, House Republicans land a blow against the politicized National Mediation Board (NMB). After assuming office in 2009, President Obama appointed two pro-union members to the three member NMB, the federal agency that oversees union-employer relations in the transportation industry. Effectively controlling the board, Obama’s Democrat appointees rewrote long-held election law to make it easier for unions to organize transportation workers. While the National Labor Relations Board’s nefarious activity has received much publicity, Obama’s regulatory overreach began with the NMB. Since the National Railway Act’s was ratified in 1926, a union needed to receive a majority of...

Today, President Obama released his budget for the 2013 Fiscal Year. The spending blueprint mirrors other plans he has put forward during his administration. It keeps spending at unprecedented levels, fails to address the looming entitlement crises and uses budget gimmickry to claim fake savings and unrealistic projections. The budget continues to call for spending at historic levels: the request sets spending for the fiscal year at $3.8 trillion and projects $47 trillion in spending over the next ten years Holds spending at 23 percent of the next ten years, two percent higher than its historical average Uses totally dishonest...

SNIPPET: "Reckless doesn't mean not dangerous. Quite the opposite. They may fail spectacularly, or be wildly successful. One thing I believe we can count on is that they will take risks, act swiftly, and burn as many assets as they have to along the way in order to do what Khamenei wants."

President Obama released his FY 2013 budget [Monday] morning. By his own numbers, his budget raises net taxes over the next decade by $1.56 trillion (Table S-9, page 225). As a percentage of the economy, tax revenues would rise all the way to 20.1% of GDP in 2022, far higher than the historical tax revenue average of 18.3% of GDP (Table S-1, page 205). Here are some of the tax lowlights: All 20 of the new or higher taxes in Obamacare are assumed to take place. That means that there will be a 3.8 percentage point surtax on investment income....

On February 13, a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at eminent domain abuse sailed through both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. This legislative action qualifies the amendment for a plebiscite vote in November. The amendment would stipulate that compensation resulting from eminent domain seizures include lost profits and access in addition to the value of the underlying real estate. This change has the support of Virginia property rights advocates including Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. If enacted, this constitutional amendment would strike at the heart of the 2005 Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London. This ruling allowed government...

Obama Energy Tax Proposals The President’s FY 2013 budget contains billions in tax increase on energy production and consumption. These taxes will result in higher prices at the pump, increased utility bills, and fewer American jobs as companies flee the U.S. and companies cannot recover their investments. Below is a breakdown of energy taxes Obama put forth in his 2013-2022 budget: [HTML Chart was over 300 words so I could not carry it over.] ATR Recommendations Congress should reject these new tax increases and move to rapidly increase access to domestic energy resources in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, part...

The U.S. House this week will vote on H.R. 4013, a bill which will continue payroll tax relief for the remainder of 2012. In all of 2011 and through February of 2012, the Social Security payroll tax rate nominally paid by employees has been reduced by two percentage points, from 6.2% to 4.2%. For someone earning $50,000 annually, this has reduced their FICA tax by $1000 over the year. Americans for Tax Reform is supportive of this extension of payroll tax relief: Now is not the time for workers to see their take-home pay decline because their taxes went up....

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, in her State of the State Address, outlined a bold plan for tax reform focused on reducing rates and consolidating Oklahoma’s seven tax brackets. The plan would end Oklahoma’s complicated seven bracket income tax structure that begins taxing on the first penny any Oklahoman earns, instead replacing the structure with three brackets – Oklahoman’s making below $15,000 a year would pay a 0-percent rate, those making under $35,000 would pay a 2.25-percent rate, and those making $35,000 and above would pay a 3.5-percent rate. The Tax Foundation ranks Oklahoma as 38th in the nation in terms...

Today the Committee on Education and the Workforce hosted a hearing on the President’s January recent recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board. To refresh everyone’s memory, President Obama made “recess” appointments to the NLRB early last month, while the Senate was not actually in recess. The Senate was in what is called a pro-forma session. In the context of appointees, longstanding Senate procedures consider pro-forma recess nearly identical to standard recess. Therefore, recess appointments cannot be made at this time. Recently, several different organizations have decided to file suits against the administration for these illegal appointments. During yesterday’s...

SACRAMENTO, Calif- A new tax proposal could be the answer to our state's budget mess. The proposal? Tax illegal immigrants. The people behind the initiative said they can get illegal immigrants to pay income taxes, but first the Governor must get a promise from the federal government, it won't go after anyone here illegally and is part of the program. "Trying to get the federal government to not spend resources on those folks who are filing and paying I don't know why that would come about, I would suspect some sort of political motivation in Sacramento visa vie Washington." Attorney...